One MIND-BLOWING Secret From Every Year Of WWE History
34. 1991 - A Secret, Abandoned Return
In early 1991, Brutus ‘the Barber’ Beefcake made his return to the WWF in very bleak - and involuntarily hilarious - fashion.
Just six months prior, his entire face had been destroyed in an impossibly brutal parasailing accident. Before undergoing facial reconstruction surgery, Brutus lost his jaw and the ability to breathe unassisted. As part of the surgery, he became more metal than man - think what Paul Levesque looks like in his own head, and you’re close.
Perhaps through pity, he was returned under a mask that afforded him the protection needed so that his face would not suffer a second full collapse. At various TV tapings, he interfered and beat up the heels who cheated in their squash matches - Earthquake, Rick Martel etc. - and blasted them with headbutts. The morbidly funny, tragedy + time = comedy element here is that the angles never aired because they looked awful, and even the undiscerning family crowd of the day rejected this dismal masked avenger character.
Imagine being Ed Leslie in those moments: in a six-month period, he had experienced a level of physical agony and mental rejection so intense that it could only be described as a level of hell.
Imagine finding the strength to return after 100 feet of wire was sewn into your exploded face, and everybody telling you to piss off!